Folding Forum

Is there a macOS version that runs FAH better than others? By "better", I mean any advantage at all, such as being faster, more efficient, etc.

I currently have a 12-core/24-thread Mac Pro (Mid 2010). My main, everyday OS is Mojave (10.14.X), but I occasionally startup in Monterey (12.x). I've run FAH in both OSes, and haven't seen any noticeable difference in how it runs in either system.

With some tweaks, I could have this Mac running any macOS from El Capitan (10.11.x)) thru Monterey (12.x). Do any of these systems have a discernable advantage of running FAH over the others?

[Yes, I have seen that some have had success on running Ventura (13.x) on these older Mac Pros, but I haven't attempted that yet. BUT, if Ventura is the "best" system to run FAH, please let me know!]

I haven't seen any noticeable difference between folding on different versions of macOS. About the only issue I am aware of is that the installer for the v7 client was created several years ago and is not completely compatible with recent OS versions. There are some posts here about modifications needed after installing for the client to work properly. The v8 Beta installer is more compliant with recent OS versions and security changes made in the OS.

Currently I am running the v8 Beta on a Hackintosh running High Sierra, it was running on the v7.6.21 client before that. I have a MacBook Pro with Mojave that I have run both the v7 and v8 clients on. I recently added a Mac Studio with Ventura, that is folding with the v8 Beta client.

P.S. I also used to run folding on older OSs for testing, but need to either replace the PS in my older iMac or move its drive and collected older OS installs in VMs to another machine. Currently the oldest tested install for current clients was under 10.12.6 - Sierra. Haven't been able to test the most recent point releases of the v8 Beta on Sierra though. Earlier releases did work on Sierra, but the official minimum OS is High Sierra.

Currently running the v7 client on an old 2011 MacBook Pro running OS X Lion 10.7.5 (Core i7). I’m pretty sure this is the oldest Mac OS that will fold. I’ve folded using every macOS release since Lion on iMacs using the v7 client, and I’m currently running v8 beta on a MacStudio w/Ventura. I’ve never noticed a significant PPD difference through various OS upgrades, but YMMV.